Overfishing is exactly what it sounds like: it’s capturing unnecessary amounts of fish from our oceans and in the process, wiping out whole breeding populations and pushing them to extinction. This is not an exaggeration: take a look at the statistics. In the last 40 years, there’s been a decrease in almost 40% of all marine species, and a shocking 28% of national fishing is illegal and unregulated. Even worse, projections from National Geographic conjecture that the world will run out of Seafood by 2048. So what does this all mean? What can we do?
Here are 4, very easy steps we can take to regain control of our oceans and set regulations against overfishing:
Educate Yourself on Aquaculture
Aquaculture is a practice where fish are captured in captivity instead of from out in the wild, while most of the time feeding captive fish with fish from the wild. Many times aquaculture can affect nearby fish populations and ecosystems with their strong use of antibiotics. But it’s not all bad. When done correctly, it can bring back ecosystems on the verge of extention and create a healthy marine environment for both marine plants and animals.
Interested in learning more about Aquaculture?
Make Smart Consumer Choices
Even if you decide to continue to eat seafood, there are steps you can take to be environmentally friendly at the same time! Here are a few tiny steps you can take to make a huge difference in the long run.
Avoid big overfarmed fish and choose small fish - to help our ecosystem and lower your chances of encountering toxic contaminants
Buy local, wild fish - fish farmed in North American waters typically are followed by stricter laws and less energy is needed for transportation. It’s important to choose wild over farmed, because farmed fishers tend to follow the use of trawling - a serious issue that I’ll dive into later on.
Consume Sustainable Seafood - it’s important that we take a stand now before many species go extinct! There are many resources out there to support consuming sustainable seafood in the long run: such as Seafood Watch and Sea Choice.
Spread Awareness - a few extra words can really go a long way! One easy step to take is asking your local seafood restaurant if any sustainable options are available, and ordering something else if no sustainable options are available.
Support an End to Trawling
Trawling is a huge contributor to damaged ecosystems and various other problems we face in our Oceans. It’s a practice commonly used by commercial fishers, in which huge nets drag through oceans collecting anything in its way. It’s even gone to the extreme where dead fish are thrown back into the sea because they’re not the “targeted” fish. To start off, we don’t even own the ocean -- it's not our resource to waste. This is why we need to take actions against this inhumane process. It’s not our resources to waste.
It’s up to us to make sure that trawling banned - and there are environmental organizations around the globe taking action! Go support them!
Join a Campaign
A great way to get involved is to join a campaign! There are a ton of campaigns out there making a change in lowering Overfishing. Here are to name a few:
Oceana:
Oceana promotes Responsible Fishing and has a plethora of actions you can take to support responsible fishing. You can protect dolphins all the way to adopting a turtle (symbolically)!
Oceana’s campaign Responsible Fishing works to reduce bycatch (animals that are unintentionally caught in and killed by fishing gear) and protect habitats on national scale.
You can join the movement here: https://oceana.org/our-campaigns/responsible_fishing/take-action
Stop Funding Overfishing:
Stop Funding Overfishing takes action legally to ensure negotiations all around the world! They mainly focus on taking change with the World Health Organization, and follow up with changes politicians and public figures promised ages ago.
You can help make a change by sharing their message and pressing for a change to save our oceans.
You can join the movement here: https://stopfundingoverfishing.com/#jtc
Marine Conservation Institute:
The Marine Conservation Institute works to increase the conservation of our Oceans! They are on the constant movement for change in our ecosystems, where less than 3% is effectively protected.
The Marine Conservation Institute advocates, maps, and blueprints the world. They advocate in connection with community leaders both on local and international scales, have created an MPAtlas tracking Global Progress, and creating Blue Parks to strategically save life at Sea. They are reversing the deadly mark Overfishing has done on our Oceans.
You can join the movement here: https://marine-conservation.org/
It’s our moral responsibility as humans to stand up against Overfishing. It simply doesn’t just affect our Oceans - with 3 billion people dependent on our Oceans as a source of daily protein and income. So let’s stand up for a more eco-friendly future! Who’s with me?
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